Marilyn Manson to unveil 'Pale Emperor' in Bethlehem

Marilyn Manson speaks onstage during the 6th Annual Revolver Golden Gods Award Show held at Club Nokia on April 23, 2014 in Los Angeles.

Marilyn Manson speaks onstage during the 6th Annual Revolver Golden Gods Award Show held at Club Nokia on April 23, 2014 in Los Angeles. (MICHAEL TRAN / FILMMAGIC)

Alan SculleySpecial to The Morning Call

Marilyn Manson: “This whole year has been about me changing and flipping my entire lifestyle upside down

It would be taking things too far to describe Marilyn Manson as a changed man. But some winds of change have blown through his work and his life recently.

"This whole year has been about me changing and flipping my entire lifestyle upside down," Manson says in phone interview.

His two main ventures of 2014 — the making of the new Marilyn Manson album, "The Pale Emperor," and his recurring role as a white supremacist convict in the popular cable series "Sons of Anarchy" — had the controversial rocker/actor breaking out of some old habits.

Creating "The Pale Emperor" represented change from the start, beginning with Manson's main songwriting collaborator. On most of his eight studio albums, Manson's primary creative foil has been guitarist/bassist Twiggy Ramirez. For the new album, he worked with composer Tyler Bates, who is best-known for his work on soundtracks, including last year's blockbuster, "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Manson says he met Bates at a wrap party for the show "Californication" in 2013, where Bates brought up the idea of collaborating.

An initial session failed — something about being stuck in a small warehouse space with a girl singing in a shrill voice killed the vibe.

But later on Bates suggested that Manson stop by his studio to give things another try.

With Bates playing guitar and Manson singing, the two immediately connected, forming the song "Birds of Hell Awaiting" in one spontaneous exchange.

"I knew right away this was going to be a record, and it formed itself completely," Manson says.

The record was completed in about three months and Manson found his entire daily routine turned inside out.

In years past, the man born 45 years ago as Brian Warner in Canton, Ohio, was famous for his nocturnal lifestyle. He would sleep during the day, then fill his nights with partying and other forms of debauchery, at least when he wasn't working on music or some other artistic pursuit, or having sex — something he told Rolling Stone magazine in its Jan. 15 issue he now must partake in five to 10 times daily.

"I used to think that 3 a.m. was the time when my brain was most creative," he says. "And it usually was because for me there were no phones ringing, there was no one else around. But I realized after the first performance, 'Birds of Hell' was the first take [done in the light of afternoon], and I just sang it. I didn't even know where the music was going to go and I just went with it and it was very organic. And then it opened up a whole different part of my mind, my life. It essentially transformed me. Just making this record, I flipped my life upside down really quickly, having to get up at 5 a.m. for 'Sons Of Anarchy.' So my schedule became completely opposite of what it used to be, which was fun for me because other people were confused. They're like 'Oh, he's not going to be able to do that.' And I like to prove people wrong."

Unconventional behavior, sensational tales and a willingness to test limits have been constants for Manson ever since he formed the first version of his band — Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids — in 1989 in Fort Lauderdale. Fla. Donning lots of makeup and engaging in all manner of shocking on-stage behavior, the group soon gained a notorious reputation.

The controversy didn't hurt Manson's career. The band's early albums — 1994's "Portrait of an American Family," 1996's "Antichrist Superstar," 1998's "Mechanical Animals" and 2000's "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)" — each sold millions, while Manson fueled the outrage of religious and other groups with his escapades.

In 1994, he met Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and said he had become a minister of that church. He spread a rumor that he had a rib removed so he could pleasure himself sexually. On one tour, he cut himself across his chest during shows, turning the concerts into a bit of a bloody spectacle.

But in recent years, the fuss surrounding Manson died down, as albums such as "Eat Me, Drink Me" (2007) and "The High End of Low" (2009) didn't generate the kind of controversy (or album sales) of the earlier releases.

But things flared up again last fall when a video directed by Eli Roth surfaced. It included footage from two earlier Marilyn Manson videos, and featured a scene in which Roth simulated raping singer/songwriter Lana Del Rey.

Manson's camp quickly responded that he had nothing to do with the video. Manson has said that he, Roth and Del Rey attempted to do a video, but he bailed from the project. In an interview for "Digital Spy," Manson was quoted as saying he dropped out because Del Rey was "being such a problem," a statement he now denies.

"I was misquoted by saying that she was difficult on set," Manson says. "It was not on set. We were talking about doing something and it didn't happen. But what was released was nothing to do with Marilyn Manson or a video concept of mine ... And I'm still friends with her [Del Rey]. She's a nice girl, and I just want to make it clear that I didn't say she was difficult to work with. I just said it was difficult to get the video made because we couldn't really make it happen. It's as simple as that. And what was filmed, I neither condone or not condone. It didn't really have anything to do with Marilyn Manson. And it was improper for the person who edited into my videos to make it seem like it did. I was only upset with that person and no one else. And I'm sure that Eli Roth and her were more upset than me, so let's leave it at that."

Except for the Del Rey video, things have seemed calm in the lead-up to "The Pale Emperor." In fact, much of the attention has centered on the excellence of the music. Its songs take Marilyn Manson's sound in a bit of a bluesy rock direction, with big beats, heavy bass lines and fat and catchy guitar riffs powering the music.

The album artwork and the videos released for the songs "Cupid Carries A Gun" and "Deep Six" — aside from some artful partial nudity in the latter video — seem tame by Manson's standards. But he hinted he may return to his familiar tricks.

"Well, I've just given the tip so far," he says.

Perhaps some of the twisted spectacle will unfold on tour this winter.

"As far as what's going to happen, I don't know until it happens," Manson says cryptically of his show. He says the show will evoke two sides of the deep South — the voodoo/hoodoo of the Louisiana swamps and the evangelical fervor of some of the region's churches.

"But I know visually it's not going to be like any of the Marilyn Manson shows we've done before. We're not going to regurgitate or cannibalize anything I've done prior to this."